In view of the aging population in the Western world, there is an increase in the number of people with limited mobility. These may be people post a neurologic or orthopedic trauma or even people whose muscles weaken and atrophy with disuse. They would typically rely on assistive devices to allow them to ambulate but the assistive devices are generally stabilizers and support structures—they do not typically provide a solution for specific gait problems. The resulting loss of mobility greatly interferes with the quality of life of these individuals and can lead to psychological and financial hardship.
Many of the individuals with limited mobility have the aptitude to regain some measure of mobility but lack the appropriate equipment to do so. Existing equipment such as standard walkers can help support an individual's weight bearing as he walks but does little with respect to training the muscles responsible for elevating or progressing the limb. As for existing types of body building equipment, they can help in strengthening targeted muscles but usually offer only resistance training, i.e., they provide an opposing force to the muscles being trained, they do not assist in flexing these muscles in any way. This constitutes a major hurdle for individuals who have lost most of their ability to control some key muscles used in walking, such muscles being, for example, the hip flexor muscles. Further, the existing equipment does not lend itself well to help individuals regain coordination of the different movements required in walking. Even with the help of assistive devices like walkers and canes, individuals who are not able to lift and progress their legs due to weak flexors, would not be able to ambulate and hence, would typically continue to atrophy and deteriorate. Strengthening the hip muscles in supine or in standing position is very important but even more important is to setup a training situation which is part of walking and coordinates in sequence the movements required for walking.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an apparatus for training an individual to walk by assisting the individual in flexing the hips and by assisting in the coordination of the sequence of movements associated with walking.